


The Silence In Between Songs

by Meatybobjohnson



Category: The Front Bottoms
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-20
Updated: 2016-04-16
Packaged: 2018-05-27 22:26:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6302638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meatybobjohnson/pseuds/Meatybobjohnson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Around the I Hate My Friends era. I know the writing is bad and all over the place but hey its for fun I guess.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Brian woke up early Saturday morning. The sun was bright as it passed through his window, the heat from the sun warming his face. He was, for the most part, comfortable. He rolled out of bed and started his shower. Since no one was home, he brought his radio in with him and blasted Your Favorite Weapon by Brand New. As he washed himself, he sang to every song until he was out and dressed. He threw on a pot of coffee and sat on his couch. While flipping through the channels he got a text.

Mat: hey u wanna have a band practice? 11:05 AM

Brian: yeah ill be over at 12. 11:06AM

He went to get his coffee and took a sip. “Motherfucker!” he yelled, the coffee was scalding hot. After a few minutes of waiting he continued to drink. By the time he was down it was time to leave. He grabbed his guitar and got in his car. The summer heat was brutal. “Practice oughtta be fun,” he thought, “fucking hate that attic.”He started his drive over.

 

When Brian arrived he was greeted by Mat at the door. “Hey Bri!” Mat exclaimed. He was always happy to see Brian. They’d been best friends since like 6th grade. “Hey man! Anything specific you wanna work on today? I got this new song I’ve been working on if you wanna hear.”

Mat nodded eagerly and Brian grew a big grin. They walked over to the couch and Brian played a song he called “Lipstick Covered Magnet”. Mat loved it. He watched Brian with such amazement as he played. At one point Brian looked up and saw the look on Mat’s face and smiled. And Mat thinks he saw him blush but he wasn’t too sure. But he felt something in chest. It felt nice but it wasn’t something he really felt before. He just shrugged it off and figured it would go away. 

They went up to the attic soon after. Since Mat didn’t wanna move his drums and his parents didn’t mind the noise they played the attic. 5 minutes into practice Brian was already complaining about the heat and slanted walls.”Y’know”, Brian said “one day we won’t have to practice here ever again. We’ll have our own place and play shows all the time.” He looked at Mat with wide eyes and smile. He was so sure of it. “I sure as fuck hope you’re right.” Mat said. Brian laughed and nodded. They went back to practicing after deciding what to run for songs. Every once and awhile they’d both look at each other, drenched in sweat and big smiles. This made Mat feel amazing. He felt butterflies. If he had to describe it, it’s like those videos of the dogs seeing their owners after being at war, but on the inside. After a half hour practice and making pools around them, they decided to get in Brian’s car and get some food. They drove to some burger joint in the center of town. The food wasn’t the best but they had air conditioning so it worked out. Once they were seated they started talking. “So what are you gonna now? Are you gonna go to college?” Mat asked as he placed his arms on the table. “Yeah I guess so. Not for a little while though. Gonna save some money and what not.”

Mat didn’t like the idea of Brian going away. He didn’t like the idea of Brian being a 5 minute drive away. His heart sunk a little. “I see,” Mat said “you wanna do this same time tomorrow?”

As Brian went to answer the food arrived. They were regulars so the waitress already knew what to get. After Brian swallowed a bite of his burger he answered. “Uh,I got work tomorrow from 1-9 but if you want you can stay over after I get out.” Brian continued to eat his burger, maintaining eye contact with Mat. It took Mat a few seconds to answer due to the prolonged staring match. “Yeah sound good to me.” Mat said with a grin. Brian smiled back, cheeks bulging with food. “Good” said Brian. 

They both kept eating their burgers and once they finished they went back to Mat’s house and played Halo for the remaining time. At about 8:30 Brian got up and went to get his guitar. On his way out he turned to Mat. “I’ll pick you up after work, alright?” Brian continued to put his shoes. “Aight. See you then, Hot Meatloaf.” They both smiled at each other. “Alright, see you tomorrow, nerd.” Brian yelled as he walked to his car. Mat stood in the doorway and waved. He stood there until Brian’s car was no longer in view. He went to his room. Shut the door behind him and put on one of the CDs Brian had let him borrow. “Lifted” by Bright Eyes had soon become his favorite. The first track started playing and he fell into his bed. He soon began trying to figure what those feelings he was having. He couldn’t figure out until, in the silence in between the songs, he realized what it was. It caught him off guard. He had a total crush on Brian. To Mat, this only meant trouble. How would his family take this news? How would Brian?

It was about 10 minutes before Mat realized the CD stopped. He didn’t bother putting in a new one. He just turned off the light and tried to sleep. But sleep didn’t come easy. It must’ve been at least an hour of thinking until he finally knocked. 


	2. Day in the life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just another day in Mat's house

Mat awoke the next day around noon, the radio still on. He went to text Brian but stopped himself when he realized he probably wouldn’t answer while at work. So he had some time to kill. For a while he played Xbox, but there’s only so many times you can hear a 12 year old talk about how he “banged your mom” until it loses it’s fun. Then he ran through the songs him and Brian were working on. It was kinda weird without Brian but he did the best he could trying to remember the structure of the songs. But when he couldn’t keep the sticks in his hands and stop his hair from clinging to his forehead from all the sweat he called it quits. After downing as much water as he could and changing, he scrolled through the channels to find something good to watch. By this time it was already 6. Luckily for Mat, Forrest Gump had just started. After about a half hour of watching Mat’s mother came home from work. She walked in the door and was soon greeted with a hug from Mat. “How was your day, Ma?” Mat asked as he let her go from the hug. “Oh it was alright. Same old same old.” she said. Mat’s mom worked in customer service. Basically she got all the calls from people who couldn’t work their TV. “That’s good. I’m staying at Brian’s tonight if that’s alright with you.” Mat said as he grabbed a drink from the fridge. “Yeah that’s fine. Speaking of Brians, any word from your brother?” Mat’s older brother, Brian, was on road trip with his friends. “Nah nothing today. Last time I talked to him he said he was in Maryland.” Mat’s mother let out what sounded like an “alright” under her breath. As Mat walked back to the couch, Mat’s mother asked him “are you alright? Last night after Brian left you seem upset. Did something happen?”. It took Mat a moment to answer as all the thoughts and feelings flooded back in. After a second of silence he answered “yeah. I was just really tired from practiced.” Mat’s mother let out another quiet “alright” but this time with a hint of disbelief. Mat sat back down and continued his movie. With the movie almost over and Mat half asleep, Mat got a text that read (brian: be there in 10) in which Mat replied with an “OK”. He headed to his room and gathered his things in a bag. By the time he was done, he heard the beep of Brian. As Mat ran out the door he yelled “bye Ma! Love you!” and closed the door behind him. He got into Brian’s car and threw his stuff into the back amongst the empty bottles and burger rapper. The amount of burgers those two ate is absurd. “Hey how was work?” Mat asked as he closed the door. For some reason, Brian always has really interesting stories. Which is weird considering he works at a grocery store.   
“She came back today.” The look of wonder on Mat’s was almost as intense as Brian’s eagerness to share his experience. “Which one?” Mat asked. There was 3 options. First was the Woman in Blue. She was notorious for her all blue track suit, eating the raw eggs, and letting her feral cats loose as a distraction to eat the raw eggs. Second was Babybel. She was known for trying to steal those mini Babybel cheese things by “shoving them in every single fucking crevice in her body” as Brian describes it. And last but not least was Big Birtha. She does what she does out of pure evil. According to Brian, she had a pimped out scooter thing that “hauled ass”. She would ride up and down the aisles, sticking her arm in the shelves to knock everything on the grown. They always called the cops but they never got there in time to get her.   
Brian looked over and said “Birtha and Woman in Blue.” Mat’s gaping mouth turned into a smile as he exclaimed “no way!” Brian focused back on the road and began to explain. “So at about 3 I get called by Tom to help with the cats. 3 cats. 3 fucking cats! So I’m running around trying to find them and cage while Tom is trying to get this lady to stop eating the eggs, which she is refusing to do and starts speed walking away. She’s now called Sonic by Tom. The next thing I hear is a shit load of cans falling and the sound of her tires. Because we were both so distracted we didn’t notice she was working her way through the aisles knocking everything over! And of course today it’s only me and Tom. So I call the cops again but as soon as I get off the phone I hear the skidding of her scooter and she’s gone. I finish with the cats and the cops come and deal with Sonic. After all that me and Tom start the clean up of 3 aisles. Crazy shit, man.” By this point, Mat is not making a single noise until he takes in a big gasp of air. Tears are rolling down his face. “So- son- Sonic!” He yelled with his laughter. Brian is now laughing at how hard Mat is laughing. They both have the thought that this is a great beginning to the night.


	3. Not yet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I know its short im sorry

They arrive at Brian’s house shortly after. The two head inside. Brian’s parents are on vacation and since Brian didn’t wanna go he volunteered to house sit, so him and Mat have the entire house to themselves. Mat puts his shit down and follows Brian to the living room. After a few minutes of flipping through the channels and failing to find anything watchable, Mat gets up to grab his bag. He comes back and stands in the entrance to the room. “Wanna get blasted?” Mat ask as he holds up a baggie of weed. Brian turns around and smiles “Fucking. Yes.” he says. They both head towards the door to the back porch. Brian packs a bowl and they begin. “So, how was your day?” Brian ask Mat as he goes to take another hit. At this point they are just started their 3rd bowl. “It was good. Nothing nearly as exciting as yours.” Brian threw his head back and laughed “Well days like today are usually pretty hard to beat.”  
They finished the bowl but both remained seated. Brian rested his head in Mat’s shoulder. Mat got that feeling in stomach again. He rested his head on Brian’s. He thought to himself “I am so fucked”.


	4. The distance that I fell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cool shit happen

This resting only lasted a few more minutes before Brian asked Mat if he wanted to grab a bite to eat, to which Mat couldn’t refuse. They went back to the car and made their way to MacDonalds. No talking was done as they both were too busy singing along to the Blink 182 album that played very loudly. But once they got the food it was silent, both shoveling burgers and fries into their faces with no haste. Every once in awhile, Mat would look at Brian. He’d let his stare linger just a little too long hoping Brian wouldn’t notice. He wanted to say something but he was far too scared to do so. Fuck, he didn’t even know how to put it. They drove back doing the same as on the way there, but now to the sounds of Brand New. 

They got back and once inside started a game of their favorite, Halo. It was an intense game. Many light hearted punches were thrown and even more yells from the two. They decided to call it quits after about an hour. They both agreed on one more bowl before they called it a night. 

Brian packed as much in as he could. The two sat outside, this time Brian had his guitar. They sang as they passed the bowl to each other. This bowl took a while as Brian packed it pretty big. They both enjoyed the July night while staring at the stars. Somehow, some way, Mat’s hand found Brian’s. Brian didn’t seem to have nearly the same reaction as Mat. Though Mat tried to keep a calm outside, on the inside it was a lot like “!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” With their finger entwined, Mat’s palms grew sweaty, though the look on his face went from a moment of “Holy shit” back to normal. After a while, Brian got up and so did Mat. They held hands until they got inside. All the while, no words were said. Mat wasn’t even sure if this was real. 

Now they’ve always stayed in the bed whenever they stayed over each other’s houses, but tonight in Brian’s bed, it was different. They were closer than anytime before and Mat never felt better next to the other boy. It wasn't long for they were both asleep, happy.


	5. Squeeze

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter cause if I try to stretch it out it'll become more shit than it already is. Thank you to those who read and enjoyed. I truly does mean a lot.

Mat was the first to wake up. He lay there in bed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and yawning. The sunlight was warm on the sheets as it came through the window. He looked over at Brian and a warm, swelling feeling filled him. He knew now that he was fucked. Though the previous night wasn’t a whole lot, it was enough for Mat. Brian rolled over, they were now face to face, smiling. 

“Hey man, I’m sorry if I overstepped my boundaries last night with the whole hand holding thing” Brian said. Mat looked at him for a moment before answering, trying to collect his thoughts. “It’s alright, Bri. I actually kinda liked it. I’ve kinda had a crush on you. Kinda.” This made Brian shoot up, now sitting, staring at Mat with a big smile on his face “Really?!” he said “Like you’re not just fucking with me right now are you?” Mat shuffled, leaning on his elbows. “Cross my heart and hope to die.” 

Brian lunged toward Mat. Now on top of the other boy, he inched closer until he could feel Mat’s breath on his face. He raised his hand to caress his cheek. “Is it cool if I kiss you?” He looked at Mat unassured. Their eyes met. The stare lingered for just a moment until Mat whispered “I’d like that a lot”. 

Mat’s heart pounded through his chest as Brian leaned closer. Before he knew it, their lips were locked. It started soft and shy but quickly grew into a desperate war between the two. The kiss lasted until the pair pulled away, panting. Lips red and wet with spit and passion. Mat was the first to break the silence. “Wow.” 

Brian slumped down on the bed next to Mat, “Yeah”. Brian put his arm under the smaller boy and Mat grabbed onto Brian’s torso, head resting above his heart. The boys stayed like this for a long time before they fell back asleep. Both content in the arms of one another. 


End file.
